SPEECH “The Art of the Islamic Book from Leiden Collections – Eastern Beauty in Reproductions”
Exhibition and Concert
11 November 2014
H.E. S.Th. BLANKHART
Your Excellency the Minister of Culture [Mr. Al Tayeb Hassan Bedwi]
Your Excellency’s Ambassadors
Mr. Director of the National Museum,
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, friends,
Ahalan wa sahalan
Sa-yi-da-ti wah sa-dat-I
A-Salaam-oe-Alai-Kom- wah
Ma-saa el giir
Ana sa-ee-da bil tahia eeleikom min el sudan.
I feel honored and privileged to stand here before you today in the National Museum of Sudan.
Today we are here to mark 400 years of Arabic and Islamic studies in the Netherlands through exhibiting copies of
a selection of Islamic manuscripts from the collection of Leiden University.
This exhibition is developed to illustrate and celebrate the diversity of religions, cultures and people in our country.
Being a small country we have throughout history felt the need to be outward looking. No wonder we are
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therefore the 5 trading nation of the world.
Also with the Arab world our country had diplomatic relations from an early stage on. In 1610 our country, then a
Republic, started diplomatic relations with Morocco. Two years later, in 1612, the Dutch established ties with the
Ottoman Empire. This greatly enabled Dutch scholars to travel to northern Africa and the Middle East to study the
original materials.
No small wonder then, that our outward looking attitude resulted also in a longstanding tradition in interest in the
Arab language and Oriental Studies. This is reflected in the wealth of the library collection at Leiden University.
This university was established in 1575, which makes it the oldest university of our country. We do know, of
course, that this is considerably younger than the oldest universities of the world: the ones of Egypt (Al-Azhar,
Cairo) and Morocco (Karueein, Fez).
38 years after the University of Leiden opened its doors, the chair of Arabic was established. In 1613, so four
centuries ago, Leiden was thus one of the first places in Europe where people could study Arabic at an academic
level. The reasons for studying were manifold. They ranged from an academic interest in the Arab language and
civilization and the need for religious dialogue to the fostering of commercial and diplomatic ties.
At present, the collection holds about 4.000 Arabic manuscripts, and 2.000 documents in Persian and Ottoman
Turkish. Within this impressive quantity, there are many precious items. This includes the oldest existing illustrated
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Arab manuscript on a scientific subject; the Kitab al-Hasha’ish. [This 11 century manuscript is an Arabic
translation of the Materia Medica by the Hellenistic scholar Dioscorides.]
So, as you can see, relations between the Netherlands and the Arab and Islam world go a long way back. But also
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today, relations are clear and manifold. More than a million Muslims live in our country, the 2 highest percentage
in Europe. In our country, they participate in all kind of ways in society, including by being Member of Parliament.
The mayor of Rotterdam, our second biggest city is of Moroccan descent. Our country sees complete freedom of
religion as one of the basic human rights. Muslims and all other believers are all free to practice their religion and
belief, choose not to practice it, or change it altogether. Some of you might be surprised that in our small country,
there are over 450 mosques, and no authority would dare demolish sites of religious worship or challenge the
construction of planned new ones.
Ladies and gentlemen,
For this exhibition, the guiding principle has been the aesthetic value of the manuscripts. To a large extent, the
beauty of Islamic manuscripts is defined by the art of calligraphy, miniatures and illumination. Those 3 key
elements also enrich the Islamic manuscripts of the Special Collections of Leiden. They give evidence of the unity
and diversity of decorative patterns in the Islamic world.
In this exhibition, you will find the Prayer book of the erudite scholar al-Jazuli, famous and in use for over 2
centuries throughout the Arab world. In general terms, the exhibition shows – again – the extremely impressive
history of poetry and science (astronomy, medicine, mechanics) in the Arab world.
The selection is divided into five themes: calligraphy, depictions of Mecca and Medina, miniatures from scientific
works, poetry and floral and geometric designs.
One can now enjoy the richness of decorative arts displayed in these manuscripts without having to travel to
Leiden. What you see here is, however, only a selection of reproductions of the most beautiful calligraphy,
illustrations and illuminations. These original documents are so extremely fragile that transporting them is not
possible.
This exhibition is the result of the excellent co-operation with the Sudanese Ministry of Culture and the National
Museum of Sudan. We feel extremely honored that we can host the exhibition here in the National Museum and
I’d like to thank (once again) the Minister of Culture and the Director of the National Museum. I also wish to thank
Mohammed Saleh for his great support and sponsorship.
The Embassy hopes that this event will further enhance the cooperation between the peoples and cultures of
Sudan and the Netherlands.
I know many of you came here just to hear my voice. But there is somebody with an even more attractive voice.
After the speech of the minister of culture and the official opening ceremony, you can enjoy the music by the
popular Sudanese singer Abdel Gadir Salim and his band. He is not only popular in Sudan but also in Europe havig
performed there many times. Last September he participated in the huge Master Peace Concert in Amsterdam.
Together with Emmanuel Jal from South-Sudan and many other world known artists from countries in conflict
zones. This series of concerts initiated in the Netherlands and held simultaneously in many other countries, like
this exhibition sought to bring people together. We are very grateful to him and his band to perform for us here
tonight.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire team of experts involved in organizing this cultural event.
I wish you all a good evening and a very informative and enlightening exhibition.